The top issues Kentucky gubernatorial candidates are campaigning on
Rachel Schilke
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With just days until the Kentucky GOP gubernatorial primary, hopefuls are looking to attract Republican voters by campaigning on the issues most important in the state.
The top three GOP contenders are Attorney General Daniel Cameron, former United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft, and state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles. A total of 12 people are running to be the Republican Party’s choice for governor.
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Here are the issues that the top contenders are focusing on as the May 16 primary nears.
Transgender rights
Transgender issues are likely to be a large influence in the fall campaign for governor. Whoever wins the GOP primary will face off against Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY), who has made it clear that he will advocate for transgender rights — particularly in education.
Craft, who is trailing Cameron, is leaving no debate on her position on transgender issues. Her running mate, Republican state Sen. Max Wise, introduced legislation regarding transgender youth this year.
During a debate on Wednesday, she said that, if elected, “we will not have transgenders in our school system.” She did not, however, address specific policies that she envisioned.
In response to blowback from Craft’s comments, her campaign clarified that “Kelly was referring to the woke ideologies being pushed in our schools,” her campaign said in a statement via Associated Press. “She has been advocating for the best for all children this entire campaign.”
Cameron also has a history of legislating transgender rights, especially in sports. He joined a coalition of attorneys general that filed a brief in late January to stop the Biden administration from enacting laws that would allow biological males to compete on women’s sports teams.
“Women athletes in Kentucky deserve the opportunity to compete on a level playing field,” Cameron said at the time. “This brief represents our latest effort to preserve the integrity of women’s sports and ensure schools in the Commonwealth are not forced to follow unlawful federal guidance that conflicts with Kentucky law.”
Beshear vetoed a bill in March that would have banned access to gender transition healthcare and dictated bathroom usage for transgender youth — Cameron said he would have “absolutely” signed the bill if governor. The GOP-dominated Legislature overrode the veto a few days later.
Cameron said at the time of Beshear’s veto that allowing transgender kids to get gender transition healthcare is the “exact opposite” of how Kentuckians should support children hoping to make the transition.
Quarles, who typically avoids criticizing or attacking his opponents, said during Wednesday’s debate that he believes transgender healthcare decisions are a parental issue. He added that it is already illegal in Kentucky for minors to consent to surgery.
Fighting the Biden administration and “radical left”
Cameron and Craft have put attacks against the Biden administration, “woke” ideologies, and the “radical left” at the forefront of their respective campaigns.
Craft has used her experience as a former ambassador to blast the Biden administration for the cost of living and the rise in drugs in Kentucky. During her campaign, she touted her experience on economic issues as U.S. ambassador to Canada and the United Nations under the Trump administration. Trump has endorsed Cameron.
In several videos, she has blasted President Joe Biden for the crisis at the southern border and for policies that closed down several of Kentucky’s coal plants and raised energy costs. She also used a coal plant closure in West Virginia to bash Cameron, as the plant provided electricity to thousands of residents in eastern Kentucky.
Cameron has also taken aim at Biden and left-leaning policies, despite once being linked to a criminal justice group that supported bail reform. He has filed several lawsuits against the administration in recent years, not just in athletics, but in matters relating to Waters of the United States and Title 42.
He has also challenged the Biden administration’s decision to cancel the Keystone Pipeline and halted vaccine mandates for private businesses. Cameron is anti-ESG (environmental, social, and governance) policies, which has led to him blasting both Beshear and Biden.
Gun violence
Gun violence will be a very hot-button issue heading into both the primary and the general election, as candidates will need to discuss plans to prevent mass shootings in the wake of the shooting in Louisville that left five people dead, several injured, and one officer in critical condition.
Kentucky does not have a “red flag” law in place that would keep firearms away from people deemed a danger to themselves or others. In neighboring Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee (R) called on the state legislature to enact a measure that strengthens those laws.
GOP candidates in Kentucky’s gubernatorial race have kept a low profile on the shootings and have danced around the subject during debates.
During a debate on April 17, a week following the Louisville shooting, Cameron took the approach of praising law enforcement.
“If you’re in law enforcement here tonight, would you please stand up? Thank you for being willing, as those fine officers did on Monday, to run toward danger while others are running away,” Cameron said.
He said in an interview with WKU Public Radio following the shooting that he is not “for gun control.” Cameron said he would not support a red flag law, either.
“I know some folks, particularly in Louisville right now, are responding to this moment. But we live in a fallen world, and there are broken people, and we see sin, and things happen,” Cameron said. “It’s a tragedy when it occurs, but the response, in my view, is not gun control.”
Both Craft and Quarles have placed emphasis on the need for mental health reform. Quarles pushed his office’s program called “Raising Hope,” focusing on mental health in rural Kentucky, while Craft said she would plan to bolster mental health services and “won’t touch the Second Amendment.”
“When we see someone struggling, we need to check in on them, but I’m also a defender of the due process rights that are afforded under the Constitution,” Quarles said.
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Craft has pushed ads attacking Cameron for his overall record on combating crime, calling him Kentucky’s “soft-on-crime teddy bear” — dozens of law enforcement officials came to Cameron’s defense and have endorsed him for governor.
“Daniel understands the law enforcement community, and he knows that what we need is real leadership that’s born out of actions taken, not tough talk in a 30-second ad,” a group of police officers and prosecutors said in a statement. “Daniel’s taken decisive action to improve public safety in Kentucky since his first day in office.”